


young love

by feychella



Series: treasured wings [3]
Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: Curse Breaking, F/F, Light Angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-26
Updated: 2020-06-26
Packaged: 2021-03-04 04:54:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,015
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24928018
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/feychella/pseuds/feychella
Summary: Althea can't afford to hurt someone else.
Relationships: Althea Song & Bloodhawk Barb, Bloodhawk Barb/Althea Song
Series: treasured wings [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1814374
Comments: 8
Kudos: 14





	young love

**Author's Note:**

> Uh oh! All curses. I haven't been able to stop thinking about these two. :(
> 
> Your comments are appreciated!

Althea holds the brand with trembling fingers, enchanting it slowly but surely. This had to be perfect, to save this kid, she’d need to be perfect. Her mind wanders back to the last time she did an enchantment like this. It was so long ago, but she remembered it perfectly. 

\-------

It was after Barb had switched to the villain track. Technically, the two weren’t supposed to be working together, but they were roommates. They were the type of roommates that did _everything_ together, instant friends, instant family. Althea pores over a map as Barb munches on little berries from the side of the path. 

Barb trips and falls as she runs ahead on the path towards the rampaging treant they were supposed to be stopping. Althea and the sidekicks are too far away to see what’s going on, but something in Althea’s chest tightens and she looks up, instinctively. The sight of Barb’s lifeless body, like a rag doll, on the dirt path burns itself into her memory. Tossing the map to the side, she rushes to Barb’s side, preparing a healing spell. The magic fizzles out at her fingertips as soon as she casts it. _What?_ So she tries, again, and again, until she’s exhausted. Barb is barely breathing, but she grabs at Althea’s hand and holds on tight. Their promise rings glow in the fading sunlight. 

Althea musters her strength and lifts Barb up, bridal style, carrying her to the side and laying her on blankets. The sidekicks build a tent around them and they camp for the next few nights. That first night, Althea reads textbooks at Barb’s bedside, afraid to go to sleep. _What if I go to sleep and she isn’t breathing in the morning?_ She stays awake, un-blinking, and scans her books for anything that could save her friend. The truth is, she loved Barb. Still loves Barb. In what way, she didn’t know yet - in the way that you’d save them from death at any cost. Althea adjusts the pillows under Barb’s head, flipping her autumn-colored hair over her shoulder and resting her head on the bed next to Barb’s shoulder.

This continued for a couple of days, the curse (as Althea had found) was taking hold of Barb, gaining strength every hour, it seemed. Barb’s dark skin gleams with a sheen of sweat and Althea brushes her forehead off, trying to keep her cool. 

“Keep her cool, okay?” she barks at the sidekicks, who nod, worried. This was hindering their mission. But Althea didn’t really care about that, not now, not when Barb was so close to death she could feel it. Storming into the forest, she withdraws the vial of magical oil and the iron brand from her pocket. Althea tries to concentrate, magic sputtering out as she struggles to enchant it with an anti-curse spell. Finally, it works. The brand takes on a new shape, a pair of angel wings, after their team name from game nights back at the dorms. She rushes back to Barb, who’s heaving from the strain of the curse. 

"Hold her still.” The sidekicks oblige and she leans over Barb, saying a quick prayer to whichever god was against curses. “C’mon Barb. Please come back,” she whispers, slipping the promise ring off her finger and pocketing it. Closing her eyes, Althea presses the brand to Barb’s upper shoulder. Her roommate lets out a broken scream as her eyes fly open, jolting up and nearly headbutting Althea, who throws her arms around her and holds on tight. Barb stiffens, then relaxes as she realizes what's going on. _Thank God._ She thought she was going to lose Barb, and she couldn't, not-

“Althea...where are you?”

“Barb, I’m-” Althea breaks the hug and stares into her face.

The dark black hair was the same, her skin cool to the touch. But her eyes had scars running out from the edges, pure white. _They aren’t scars_ , Althea thinks, _they’re remnants of the curse inlaid into her skin_. She covers her mouth with her hands and sits back on her knees. Tears come to her eyes. A rare side effect of curses was blindness, but if she had been faster, maybe she could’ve prevented this. She could’ve prevented all of this. Barb clenches her fist and swings at the air in front of her, mumbling to herself.

“Barb, I’m here!”

“Althea...Althea, I can’t see. Althea?” Her friend’s hoarse voice cracks as she sits on the earth, swinging her head from side-to-side, trying to process anything. Althea gathers her in her arms, sobbing, and the memory fades.

\-------

She couldn’t let anything like that happen to Fitzroy. He had good friends, the potential to be very powerful, the potential to have the rest of his life, living as normal. He shouldn’t have to face consequences of the curse because of her slowness. The brand, shaped like two inverted triangles, glows hot in her hands and she rushes outside.

“....wear all your clothes, and I won’t even take a bath before!”

“Argo, I can save him!” Argo stumbles backward, trying to give Althea space. Her mind focuses on random details - the abandoned children’s book lying on the ground, whatever Argo was saying before, how he had sat for hours at Fitzroy’s side trying to keep him awake or alive. _They’re in love._ Did that mean she and Barb were…?

Grunting, she slams the brand under Fitzroy’s collarbone and he wakes with a start. Argo pushes Althea to the side, wrapping Fitz in his arms. _Open your eyes. Please open your eyes,_ Althea pleads. Fitzroy opens his eyes and she takes a shaky breath. They’re normal colored, bright white already fading from them. No cracks in his skin. She saved him in time. Argo is weeping, happy tears, onto the half-elf’s shoulder. She lets them have their hug, remembering her own moment with the girl she’d loved. Reaching into her pocket, she takes out the promise ring and slips it onto her finger, making a promise to herself. She would find Barb. No matter what it takes.


End file.
